Breed help!

[No Coop No Problem]

No matter what you say, you will never come across as true because that is simply not correct. I don't want to argue about something that is obvious. If you mix chickens with different colors, but they are still in the same breed, then they will be that same breed－just not with the correct colors.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

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Even if that was true, you cannot say that all Easter Eggers are not mixed breeds.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Even if that was true, you cannot say that all Easter Eggers are not mixed breeds.

I never made that claim. I said that Easter Egger is "a slang term that can refer to both pure and mixed breeds". Most EE are mixed, but not all

 

[NagemTX]

No matter what you say, you will never come across as true because that is simply not correct. I don't want to argue about something that is obvious. If you mix chickens with different colors, but they are still in the same breed, then they will be that same breed－just not with the correct colors.

The clubs for Ameraucana disagree with you. They will call mixed color Ameraucana EEs. If you cross a brown red Ameraucana with a blue Ameraucana the results will be considered EE by both breed clubs and APA. Its just how it is. I don't agree with it and some others in the clubs don't either but we are in the minority.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I never made that claim. I said that Easter Egger is "a slang term that can refer to both pure and mixed breeds". Most EE are mixed, but not all

The clubs for Ameraucana disagree with you. They will call mixed color Ameraucana EEs. If you cross a brown red Ameraucana with a blue Ameraucana the results will be considered EE by both breed clubs and APA. Its just how it is. I don't agree with it and some others in the clubs don't either but we are in the minority.

@No Coop No Problem made it sound as if only Ameraucana-based Easter Eggers existed, and that is why I was disagreeing with them.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

The clubs for Ameraucana disagree with you. They will call mixed color Ameraucana EEs. If you cross a brown red Ameraucana with a blue Ameraucana the results will be considered EE by both breed clubs and APA. Its just how it is. I don't agree with it and some others in the clubs don't either but we are in the minority.

It's a very silly practice of these organizations to call a breed of chicken another name when it doesn't meet very specific and strict standards. It's like mixing brown and white Leghorns and calling them shinflutes

Purity-spiraling elitist nonsense

 

[NatJ]

The term "Easter Egger" is given to any chicken who has a least one Ameraucana parent in their lineage, and they must carry either the blue, green or pink egg gene.

Not quite right. No Ameraucana needed, and no "pink egg" gene involved.

"Easter Egger" gets used for any non-purebred chicken with the blue egg gene, regardless of whether it has an Ameraucana ancestor or not. Some Easter Eggers get the blue egg gene from Cream Legbars, or from Araucanas, or from other breeds. Some Easter Eggers have no purebred ancestors at all, because they trace directly back to the non-purebred blue-laying chickens that existed before any of the current pure breeds.

"Easter Egger" also gets used for some chickens that are supposed to have the blue egg gene but actually do not have it (like in hatchery flocks where they are trying to breed blue or green eggers, but missed a few with the wrong genes.) "Pink" eggs are just one shade of brown, plus a pretty name. They do not require any special gene.

(Chickens with the blue egg gene can lay blue or green eggs, depending on what other genes they have. The darkest green eggs are sometimes called "olive.")

 

[NagemTX]

It's a very silly practice of these organizations to call a breed of chicken another name when it doesn't meet very specific and strict standards. It's like mixing brown and white Leghorns and calling them shinflutes

Purity-spiraling elitist nonsense

I so agree! As long as they meet type in body and do what they are meant to do(like lay blue eggs and serve as a meat chicken) its that breed no matter the color of the paint.

 

[NatJ]

These were sold as mixed bantams - any idea what breeds?

I think they are probably multi-generation mixes, not just a cross of two pure breeds. So each one could easily be a mix of 4 or more breeds.

Since they are bantams, they must have at least some bantam ancestors, but they could also have some standard-sized breeds mixed in.

The black one has a crest. That means it has a parent with a crest, who in turn has a parent with a crest, etc. I think I see muff/beard on the face too, which would have the same kind of inheritance: must be present in one parent, and in one parent of that bird, and so forth.

Because of the crest, it might be part Polish bantam, or it could be part Silkie (not half Silkie, because it does not have feathered feet, but it could be 1/4 Silkie or 1/8 Silkie or something like that.) There are other options as well, including non-bantam ones.

Black is present in so many breeds, bantam and standard, that it's not even worth trying to guess which one is involved.

For the second one, it might be part Silver Laced Sebright, or it might be part Wyandotte Bantam (Silver Laced or Silver Columbian), or it might be part Delaware bantam, or a few other options. (These guesses are based on the color/pattern I'm seeing.)

If I wanted to make up a possible set of parents, the black could be something like Cream Legbar (standard size) x Black Old English Game Bantam, with the result crossed to a Mille Fleur d'Uccle x Blue Rosecomb. But I could be wrong about every one of those breeds, and there are many other sets of 4 or more breeds that can cause a chicken with the traits of the one you have.

If they lay eggs, the color of the eggs can tell a little bit about their ancestry, especially if the eggs are blue or green: that would mean they are some kind of Easter Egger. If the eggs are cream or brown, it doesn't tell much, because of how many breeds lay those colors. If the eggs are completely white, that would also tell something about what breeds are likely in their ancestry (although I can't immediately think of what breeds that would be.)

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Not quite right. No Ameraucana needed, and no "pink egg" gene involved.

"Easter Egger" gets used for any non-purebred chicken with the blue egg gene, regardless of whether it has an Ameraucana ancestor or not. Some Easter Eggers get the blue egg gene from Cream Legbars, or from Araucanas, or from other breeds. Some Easter Eggers have no purebred ancestors at all, because they trace directly back to the non-purebred blue-laying chickens that existed before any of the current pure breeds.

"Easter Egger" also gets used for some chickens that are supposed to have the blue egg gene but actually do not have it (like in hatchery flocks where they are trying to breed blue or green eggers, but missed a few with the wrong genes.) "Pink" eggs are just one shade of brown, plus a pretty name. They do not require any special gene.

(Chickens with the blue egg gene can lay blue or green eggs, depending on what other genes they have. The darkest green eggs are sometimes called "olive.")

There are a lot of different explanations for what an Easter Egger is, and the one I stated was the explanation that I have seen most commonly around BackYard Chickens.